Northeast Gardening: House/greenhouse plants thread

I figured it was time to start a thread where we could post pics of our indoor pants that keep us going through these dreary winter months, so I'll get us started with a bunch of pics of the plants in my porch.

The lighting in this porch is not really strong. It faces west, north and east, on the north side of the house. Would have been better going in on the south side, but then it would get too hot in the summer, and the windows don't open.

And a few pics of my friend Gretchen, and 2 shots of my white Brug, which only had one flush of blooms. This single bloom was the only one I got any pics of. One more had opened up just last week, and then my sister had our nephew put it down in the cellar a few days ago, not realizing there was a bloom on it till after they got it down there. There were originally 2 more buds that were going to open, but one aborted. Don't think it was getting enough water. Oh, well, now that it's down in the cellar it will be staying there till late spring.

Your plants give a very enchanting look to your home, Karen!!! I have a Freyek (given to me at a swap) that looks like yours with the white veined leaves. Is your porch a heated room. I have a 3 season room that gets really hot during a sunny day and just as cold as it is outside, so I tend not to overwinter plants in there.

You have an amazing porch with some choice plants. Love the "Brug and You"shots. I have never tried them. Should. We have an attached greenhouse that houses a massive number of plants that we put out side for the summer. It is a passive solar GH so we don't heat it though it gets waste heat from the woodstove that is in the house as we ran the stove pipe into the GH before it is attached to the chimney before it is vented out of the house. The more I think about it after seeing yours, I should grow a Brug! Jades are in bloom now. First shot shows the olnly heat that we have in the GH. Built this house in 1981 and we have never had more than a touch of frost on a couple occasions. Mostly because when it is below 32 degrees it is more often sunny unless we are having a big snow storm. Patti

Roses, the porch does have a heating vent in it, but it still is not as warm as the house. It can down in the 40s and 50s in there, so not the best temps for tropicals. My orange hibiscus is not blooming really well because of it. I want to get an electric heater to put in there to keep it warmer. Thanks for the ID on the white veined Alocasia. I really like it. It's still just a small one right now.

Love your cyclamen, Marinlyn. I need one.

I am "green with envy" over your lovely greenhouse, Patti. I would love the put one on the south side of our house, but till then the porch works quite well. Only problem is that my sis doesn't like me to have a lot of plants in there.

The jades are so pretty when they bloom...I, too, would love a greenhouse...my next door neighbor has one right off her living room, it's heated, & she has nothing in it! She stays upstairs in a bedroom suite, & doesn't even go downstairs anymore...very agoraphobic...

Oh, I so love these indoor plants! I hope folks keep posting. I will after I get things more under control. We had a communication breakdown resulting in loss of several of my tropicals that were outdoors this fall. DH is suggesting we build a greenhouse someday to fix the problem.

Patti's greenhouse fascinates me. Are the cement foundation wall and bricks part of the plan to absorb the sun's heat? I'd like to start with a very small structure off my bedroom---after we finish the inside of the house.

RosemaryK, our GH was designed to first give our house some passive heat, then, secondly, to give us a place for plants and thirdly to give us a little room to have coffee or a meal in when the weather is right. The floors are brick set in sand, no mortar, so the brick absorbs heat but drains quickly when we water. We use a hose to water everything. The raised bed are made with concrete blocks covered with a Parge coat that we stained dark grey to again absorb more heat. They are filled with potting soil with thick layer of gravel , but I don't remember how much now. The whole southern wall between the house and the GH is mostly made of the same parged concrete blocks on GH side while the inside of that wall has been faced with brick for an even thicker mass to absorb the heat and for the visuals of having some nice brick walls on the inside of the house. We do have windows in that wall that allows us to look into our little jungle and to bring the southern light into the house. During the day in the colder parts of the year when the GH becomes warmer than the house, we just open up two doors in the southern wall to let the heat flood into the house, but as the sun goes down, we close those doors. However, those walls continue to radiate heat into the house. We also crank up the wood stove inside the house as needed when the sun goes down. We do have a back up heating system, but try not to use it much. The glass panels in the GH are just insulated sliding glass door glass set in wood frames that were made from recycled cypress wood that came from old beer vats at a old Rhinegold brewery when it closed in the late 70's. Over the years some of the glass panels need to be replaced as the seal between the layers have failed so the glass is now opaque. However it may be better to not have so much sun for the plants, but would be better for heat to have the glass clear again. We vent excess heat out the top of the GH through a series of connected windows that open and close via a chain and pulley system. We don't have a misting system or fans which would be nice. We read everything we could about passive solar GH back in the late 70's and then hired an architect and a GH guy to run the numbers to see if it would work for us as primarily a heating source rather than as a GH. And since ours was built in 1981, another very similar one was built by a friend for his home here on Nantucket after he saw ours. He made it from totally salvaged old sliding glass doors and salvaged timber from the dump. His major expense was the concrete blocks and his time as he had to dig out the sunken element of the plan and then the time it took him to erect it. It worked great for him too for years, though he has apparently recently closed his house for the winter and moved to Fla. I guess he retired and became a Snowbird. Not sure what he did with his plants. Patti

We tried doing veggies in the early years, but our collection of house plants took over. Plus we found all veggies are magnets for white fly and other common pests and take a lot of management and effort to grow successfully. We do have some hot peppers and herbs that work without work. So no real food products. I think we would also need more night time heat. It gets down to close to freezing at times though we have lost virtually nothing due to frost over the years. Knock wood. It would defeat the purpose of this GH to put \ a heater in it, but that would be nice at times though very costly. So what we grow in the GH is what grows without fuss. Patti

White fly is very annoying, I can see why you don't want it in the greenhouse! I took a summer course...about 30 years ago...at the Univ. of New Hampshire on solar greenhouses. It was very interesting, & we got to tour several of them around the university...most were being used for veggies...I remember one had thermal shades...I was thinking that buying the veggies would be a whole lot cheaper!

Thanks for the very fascinating information about passive heat greenhouses. It looks and sounds like a real pleasure for the senses as well as an act of conservation to have one. We'd love to have a small one but can't site this daydream correctly for sun. I sometimes take a walk through the historic greenhouse at the Lyman Estate in Waltham when I need something uplifting. It was built in the early 1800's to grow bananas and oranges for the family, and the other colder rooms are for grapes and camellias. They claim it doesn't get very cold at night, but maybe if it's true its because it is quite large with several rooms and the brick walls are very thick.

RosemaryK, the guy who built ours has done restoration work at the Lyman Estate plus at many other historic GH though he will build new ones with recycled materials or just consult for what is the best type even if he doesn't build it. Mark Ward http://www.wardgreenhouses.com/about.html

Interesting bio, Patti. Oh if only there was someone like this 60 years ago when the developers plowed a large greenhouse into the ground to build tract houses where we live. In the first five years of owning our property I used to gather garbage bags full of glass shards. Now I think I've managed to dig most of it up over the 20 years we've had the house. I also encountered garbage dumps in the excavations some with early 20th century bottles.

All that's in the past, so now it's nice to dream of building a proper new one into the side of our house. Perhaps that is after the water feature in the back yard. To be perfectly honest, we have some indoor building projects to do first--balcony above the fridge, built-ins that make the laundry room have dual purpose as an entertainment center by sliding a door, and finishing our wet room ( master bathroom with open shower). Because we do most of the work ourselves,or else act as general contractors, everything takes a long time.

RosemaryK, Great plans on your plate. I think I am now done with all the renovations that I had on my dream list. Spent most of last year on the Vt house though we didn't do the work just the design and some grunt work. Water feature is a fun project unless you go overboard as did Wha with his amazing one. Mine was more modest, but it is still a very special spot in our garden. Good luck with yours and maybe you will get a gh someday too. Patti

Rocks on the brain and now overboard?? And here i have been thinking of bending one curve in the stream more if I can do it with the liner there, extending the top slighly to add another curve there and re-working the stones on the sides in places...

Wha, I didn't say rocks were ever bad and going overboard can be a delightful dip into new waters. I always expect to see something new in your yard on every visit that resembles an entrant into a new wonder of the world contest. You go Girl, meaning your wife, who somehow deals with all your constant landscaping. How do you have time to read and reply to DG ? Love the new idea about the curve. BB fan.

I am leaving Vt after a week of being laid down by illness and feeling it was a total waste of time to be in bed, but better now than in the spring. Not finding much online to get excited about as many spring catalogs that I like aren't out yet, but I did look at some Brugs for the GH. However they get so big. I also thought about some more pottery planters that I plan on making out of clay. Patti

Marylin, when the blooms start to pass, or start changing color on the cyclamen, gert your fingers down on the stock and give it a Yank. It will help produce new blooms for a good start.

I had to shrink out Poinseitta's, Norfork Pines, Zygo Cactus & other things. Some I just could not. Phalaenopsis Orchids I have to shrink after the past pull date. This one was dyed. To buy it at 25 bucks I dont think so as it wont make it in my house. But I do have a tiny heart. The trees oh dear had to shrink out 10, these are good to 0 degrees.

Good advice about cyclamen. Not sure about dyed orchids, but if it is a stunning blue you want, I would say you got it. Nice trees.

DH got back to Nantucket tonight and said the kids in the GH were all fine which was a relief as we have been away since Dec 21st. He will water everyone tomorrow. I got to Boston tonight and will go into the studio and make some pots for the GH tomorrow. I have a lot of things to glaze that I bisque fired before Xmas and a few of them are flower pots. Maybe I need to get a cyclamen for one of them The hardy ones outside are blooming now, but they are very tiny and the dogs keep stepping on them. I need to move them to a place where they would be less likely to get run over so often. But I planted them by the front door so we would see them. Can't win. Patti

Patti, if you have a basement that's not heated, you can overwinter your brugs in there, rather than having them take up space on your greenhouse. In a cool, dark basement they will go dormant. Just cut them back by about 2/3, and give them some water every couple of weeks, just enough to keep them from drying out.

Nice pot and plant, Marilyn.

Sherrie, I don't know what you mean by shrinking out. Love the blue orchid, even if it is dyed. Been thinking about trying Phalinopsis orchids again. I've been reading up on their care, and I think where I messed up before is in giving them too much water. Hopefully I can do a better job this time.

Thanks for the brug tip. I would forget to water them in the basement. But I might just have to make room. Now what color. Love the pale ones. And source. Buying one in bloom might be best so I would enjoy it immediately. Spring? What nursery in NE sells them?

Love the term shrinking out. kinder than trashing. Some Serious Orchid growers that I asked, boojum for one, told me that the ice cube trick is a horrible idea. Invented by box store orchid suppliers to sell them as an easy plant to grow. But I kill them no matter what I do. Don't freeze today. Patti

Someone gave me three cuttings in early winter. I am very happy with starting them this way because they take so little room on any window sill and immediately make the "Y"
that's necessary for blooming. I'll have lots of cuttings for anyone who would like to do it this way next fall.

Thanks for clarifying that, Sherrie, on the shrinking out. LOL! This website says 3 ice cubes a week, but I guess that would depend on the size of the pot: http://justaddiceorchids.com/ . Hmmm... didn't know that, Patti. Watering once a week is supposed to be fine, and no over-watering. As I was researching their care, I came across this website that I like a lot: http://www.repotme.com/ . They have lots and lots of orchid supplies and lots of info on orchid care, as well as instructional videos.

Orchids I belive came from the Jungle, Hot & Sweaty. In other words like me Humid. They need moisture, plain & simple. The roots cant linger in water or the will rot. They like to get sprayed with a mist every day. I cant grow them in my house with a wood stove = Dead

Here's Epiphyllum 'Petey Kelly' which is growing in my bedroom plant window. We had this built into our bedroom addition to take advantage of the south facing light. I had two giant jade plants in terra cotta pots at the time and hauled them out to the contractor who was beginning the frame work for the room. I told him to lift the plants each one. I said: " make sure that the frame under the windows in strong enough to hold these two plants at least!" and that's what he did. You can do a polka on the floor of my bedroom garden window. we have fluorescent pot lights in the ceiling of it but rarely have to use them.
Martha

I have a bunch of ivies that I have distributed amongst my south windows and in my terrarium. I did two dish garden workshops this past November with my garden club and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. I collected small houseplants in anticipation of this and one of my friends brought some ivy cuttings she had rooted. I have about 9-10 planted up as we all had more plants that we could use. I made up some cute dish gardens in planters. I will take some pictures. We had a great time.
Martha

This is my "Friendship" dish garden. I received the three labeled succulents from my friend who helped me with the kids dish garden workshop. The small gasteria on the bottom right is a division from a larger plant that was given to me by one of my Flower Show friends. The aloe from the bottom left is a division that came from a plant given to me by a neighbor who has since passed on but used to have the enormous mother plant in her bay window in her dining room. She gave me the original division 24 years ago. This is one of its babies. I can't wait for them all to grow and fill this dish in.
Martha

This is my pony tail palm that looks like a camel. I rooted the caudex myself. It won a blue ribbon in 2010 at the Boston Flower Show. It still lives in my kitchen. It has blue ribbons from my local garden club flower shows also. One visitor to the flower show said it looked like a whale spouting, but I think of it as a camel sitting in the oasis.
Martha

If you have a likely subject go to here: http://www.masshort.org/Amateur-Horticulture-Competition
which is the Flower Show Schedule for the Amateur Horticulture Competition for this year's show in March. This describes all the plant classes that an individual may enter and what the rules are. There is most likely a class that will suit you down to the ground. Then, bring in your plant to the Seaport World Trade Center and enter it {with me! I am the chair off Amateur Horticulture this year} on March 11th between 12 pm and 8pm and the rest will be history. Then you can come down to the show to see how you did between March 13th and March 17th and pick up your plant Sunday, March 17th. that's it! Any questions? Ask me here. Thank for inquiring.
Martha

That's how I got started. My DH took me to the Boston Flower Show for the first time back in 1984 and I noticed that a prize winning jade plant didn't quite match up to the two that I had. Mine were better! so, I found out how to enter and the rest is history. It's easy, no fee and we'd love to have you!
Martha

That sounds like fun Martha. I think I'll go for it. I have two really beautiful elephant ears that I could enter. I can't say my other plants are show quality, except for maybe my begonia. The rest of my plants are nice, but not exceptional. Would I get free admission to the show if I enter (hoping)?

Unfortunately, no free admission. However, I would certainly report back to you on the status of your entries. I can't do it for everybody {we had nearly 300 entries in Amateur Horticulture last year} but I do it for my friends and can take a picture of your exhibit on the bench and DMail it to you once you have been judged. But, it's worth it if you can make it down there. It's at the Seaport World Trade Center. which is a stop on the silver line bus.
Let me know what you decide. We always like new exhibitors.
Martha

Thanks for this thread, Karen. I've decided to grow more varied indoor plants, so this thread is getting me inspired. I've ordered some books from the library, including Byron and Laurelynn Martin's book "Growing tasty tropical plants in any home..." It has been nice so far to have a few Meyer lemons and Persian limes while the cold is blustery outside. Everyone wants to handle my coffee plants so they always end up dying. I wonder why they are such a magnet for being touched? I may grow a small leaved camilla sinensis outdoors for tea (the small leaf variety is supposed to be more cold hardy), but it would be easier to pick the tips indoors.

Who has a favorite indoor food crop?

I wonder is anyone is growing any tree ferns in their home or GH? Looks like I could get away with a dwarf for a few years but they're supposed to be spiky. It's that dinosaur thing, though. Who wouldn't want to remember them?

Yeah, the Meyer Lemon is vulnerable, especially if I don't wash the leaves of the clivia regularly or if I don't do soil treatment after summer on the deck. For reasons I don't understand the Persian Lime hasn't gotten it yet. The more I mist them, the happier they get. I have to learn exactly when to fertilize too because I really don't like the way it smells, so that's an antidote for overdoing it. I do citrus tone twice a year if they're lucky and then stick fresh Spanish moss in the pot. I'll photograph once I find a home for all the stuff I'm wading in from my mother's family home and the new bench arrives.

I skipped the orchid and epythites, which are in the second house. Now straight to the camellia house. They even sell them there. Many aren't named because they are old. The fourth one looks like C.W.Wilson but i wasn't sure. They also sold that one

First one is a classic from Japan, I think it is Tama-No-Ura. It was found growing in the wild by a charcoal burner in 1947 on an island by that name in Nagasaki Prefecture. Nuccio's introduced it to the US trade in 1975.

All it takes is one fragrant variety to make the whole greenhouse smell wonderful. They had 'Fragrant Pink' on sale. I like it that camellias don't seem to bother my allergies, so that's probably true for other people too. White doubles are considered to be classics. I took a lot of shots of CW Wilson on several plants.

I was at Tower Hill also. I loved that bromeliad/fern tower. Here's a pic of it and the Meyer Lemon among others. I would love a greenhouse with as tall a ceiling as the Orangerie at Tower hill. Don't you love the bromeliad Christmas tree?
Martha

Actually, the bromeliad tree had been watered recently as all the cups on them had water in them. wouldn't want my kitty cat or dog to knock it over though. This one I think could stand it since it weighed a ton with all the plants in place.
Martha

Robindog, Tulip Rococo is an old favorite of ours. They are one of the tulips that I try to buy and replant every except one when I forgot since 2006. They don't return very well, but last year Van Engelen was selling them at the regular price of 50 for 18.00, so I will have lots to drool over this spring. The Smith Greenhouses are full of other things too. I only took a few shots as I was with friends who had a time crunch. Patti

Hip Hip Hooray. Always love seeing a Hippeastrum. Most of mine will be blooming late this year as we planted them out in the garden and didn't dig them out until Oct. so they are going to be blooming in the late spring. OK by me. Patti

that bulb has been sitting on top of the soil of one of my plants in my bay window for a few years.. it rooted it's self.. and there it stayed.. looks happy right?.. there is another stem not far behind those two

I've kept my amaryllis on my plant shelf for 3 years now, have not done anything to them except cut back the foliage in the fall...one bloomed, one is budded, one grew new foliage, one has done nothing...probably dead.

These were several of my entries in the Amateur Horticulture competition at the Boston Flower Show. first one is three different ivies. the pots are attached to the saucer making it one unit. The judges liked the ivies, so I got an honorable mention, but they didn't think my pot was a "container" in the strictest sense of the word. What do you think? The next one is a dish of succulents that I rooted in 1998 from cuttings a fellow exhibitor gave me. the third one is a similar succulent garden made from divisions given to me by friends . the fourth is my ever popular "Camel" plant, which is a rooted caudex of Ponytail Palm. Took me 2 years to root that sucker! and the last one is my dish garden in a container that looks like a squash on the vine. I made that one for my garden club's dish garden workshop.
I love exhibiting. I have some things ready to go for a local garden club's flower show in April.
Martha

I understand that. The camel plant has several blue ribbons, including one from this flower show and several from others and from the boston show, a cultural certificate. It only grabbed an HM the year I tried to make it into a container garden. It just overpowered everything else, I guess. Depends on what the judges see each year!
Martha

Martha, I did not get a chance to enter anything in the the flower show. After the big blizzard we had last month, my plants in the porch did not do as well. No heat out there, and I ended up having to move them all into the house when we lost our power for 2 days. They also took a hit before that with some frostbite on the alocasias. So they did look stop good anymore. I thought I had lost my tropical hibiscus, but it's coming back.

I don't mind what they get, Karen. I am the chair of the whole competition and there are people who enter who have much more spectacular plants than I do. I just love seeing what comes in the door every year to be judged. In fact, there was a huge Alocasia entered this year. Let's see if I can bring up the picture. Yep, there it is. Next to a huge crown of thorns and that magnificent Clivia. All stuff I wish I could grow, but have no room for.
Martha

That's really nice! I especially like the clivia. The alocasia is bigger than my two. I have a small clivia that a friend have me this year. Don't know of it will boom this year or not. Can't wait till it does. I have an amaryllis that's getting ready to bloom. I brought it to my office to brighten up the place.

Our clivia is now about 30 years old and still blooming like clockwork though we have divided it many time to share with friends. It came from the flower show on the piers in NYC. We had to wait for quiet a few years for it to bloom the first time. Now awaiting a tiny yellow one to bloom that we got 2007 called Clivia Golden Dragon, but it looks like it will be another year though it is growing nicely. Patti